Denial of admission in Dehradun schools forces para athlete to relocate to Bengaluru

Dehradun (Uttarakhand) [India], June 8 (ANI): Hope David, the young para athlete who had brought laurels to the country at international forums, has been denied admission by several prestigious schools in Dehradun on the pretext of unavailability of ramps and lifts.

Being fed up with the refusal of schools in Dehradun, Hope’s family has now decided to shift to Bengaluru concerning her future. Hope, a wheelchair tennis player and a wheelchair racer, is looking for admission to class 7.
Speaking to ANI, Hope’s mother, Shilpi David recalled the struggle they faced to get their daughter enrolled in the school and said, “Hope has set a record by completing the 4-km race in 35 minutes in a marathon held in Dubai. When Hope turned 4, we started looking for her admission to Dehradun but at that time also we faced a similar problem, and that is why we shifted to Gurugram. Now after all these years, we shifted back thinking that situation must have improved and new schools have come up but again went through similar problems.”

She further said, “Later, we approached Uttarakhand Child Rights Protection Commission Chairperson Geeta Khanna. She helped us a lot and summoned schools and conducted a meeting with schools. I hope after this meeting things will change and schools will facilitate lifts and ramps for specially-abled children and they will not be denied admission.”

Distressed by this issue, Shilpi now resolved to bring some change and started a campaign to install ramps in various schools across the city, to ensure that no other child has to face the same problems as her daughter.

However, Shilpi has planned to move to Bengaluru as one of the schools there has offered admission to Hope.

“As we were in Bengaluru for Hope’s marathon, we thought of approaching some schools and the response was very welcoming and we were offered admission. So now we are shifting there and I think training facilities will also be better there,” said Hope’s mother.

Uttarakhand Child Rights Protection Commission Geeta Khanna said that notice was sent to all schools that refused admission to Hope.

“Hope’s parents had come to meet me and they brought the whole matter to my notice – how the schools denied them by making some excuse or the other. After this, a notice was sent to all the schools where they had gone for admission. I met with school management on June 2 and action will be taken against such schools,” Khanna said.

She further said that it is very unfortunate that a girl who has brought laurels to the country has to leave the State known for education.

Hope is a para-Olympian and clinched a medal in Dubai Para Olympics. She has Spina bifida and went through many surgeries after her birth, added Khanna.